All posts in Uberbau

Uberbau (from which TSPA emerged) conceived a spatial development strategy for the City of Aleppo commissioned by the German development agency GIZ in 2011. The goal was to develop spatially-driven solutions to guide long-term sustainable development. Thomas Stellmach’s (TSPA) and Ali Saad’s (Bureau Ali Saad) critical reflections on the planning process and the limitations of traditional planning methods in Aleppo and their call to acknowledge existing dynamics as the base for defining future qualities and for steering urban development, have now been published in Ashgate’s Urban Design in the Arab World, edited by Robert Saliba.

Together with InD and BGMR, we’ll present our project ‘Netzwertstadt’, a strategic vision for the development of the Ruhrgebiet in Duisburg-Nord on 16 and 17 October as part of the 3rd future forum of the RVR.

We were selected to take part in the ideas competition on a metropolitan vision of the Ruhr region in collaboration with bgmr and InD supported by a range of interdiciplinary consultants. We’ll will join the inception workshop on May 22nd-23rd 2013 in the SANAA Building of the Zeche Zollverein in Essen. The Ruhrgebiet – Germany’s former industrial and mining region – is the largest urban agglomeration in Germany and currently faces huge challenges due to tremendous demographic and economic transformations. A total of five competing interdisciplinary teams were selected that include design offices such as maxwan, studio urban catalyst, yellow Z, Reicher Haase architects, Kengo Kuma associates and West 8. Results are to be expected in October 2013. More info: Webpage Metropole Ruhr (in German).

Uberbau (Urban Design) in collaboration with MARS (Architecture) and Treibhaus / Lavaland (Landscape) win one of eight equal prizes in the open international ideas competition ‘Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin’ for Berlin’s new central library and its adjoining city quarter. The new centre at the fringes of the projected city park on the Tempelhof airfield forms part of a larger urban regeneration scheme for the district, including a new quarter around the central library complete with a central city square. The urban design re-interprets the Berlin block and creates a permeable, non-directional public network of small public spaces organised through a mix of building types with a focus on flexible typologies for various uses and users. The library serves as a landmark that contrasts with the monumental wideness of the airfield. Concentrating the building mass into a compact cube frees up space for a public square for a variety of temporary and other uses such as community gardens. The design of the new central library achieves a highly efficient programme that can fulfil long-term logistical and practical demands.

Uberbau’s proposal for the urban renewal of the Al-Adhamiya area in Baghdad, Iraq, was last week awarded the third price in an official ceremony in the prime minister’s office. Thomas Stellmach presented the project which will be further developed in the next phase of the project.

Thomas and Ali of Uberbau are invited artists at the International Arts Festival De Wereld van Witte de With 2012 in Rotterdam curated by Lukas Feireiss. They’ll exhibit two timelines on streets in western countries in general and on Rotterdam’s Witte de Withstraat in specific, hold a workshop on “The Missing Street” and organize “Street Talks” with various experts. Join us from September 14th to 16th 2012 on the Witte de Withstraat in Rotterdam! [read on at the festival site]

Uberbau is selected as one of two finalists for the AMO-ZiL competition. Ali presented “ZIL Pioneer” to an international jury and to Deputy Mayor Andrei Sharonov in Moscow on Friday, March 2nd, 2012. The proposal suggests the transformation of the centrally located, 280ha industrial site into a pioneering urban centre for Moscow. Among other contributions by Dutch office Mecanoo, French office Valode & Pistre and Russian office Project Meganom, Uberbau and Project Meganom were selected to further develop their proposals and to present them to Moscow’s Mayor in the coming months.Have a look at the project.